Puzzling Yangon

Now that the writing process for our book is in full swing, I am dealing with some historical puzzles occasionally. Herewith two that I have shared with our Facebook readers recently. One is about a famous high school, the other about a beautiful yet dilapidated official building on Pansodan Street.

Screen Shot 2014-11-26 at 7.15.50 PM
Continue reading

Raglan Squire

We are making good progress with our architectural guide to Yangon. With all the coverage on pre-independence heritage architecture (most recently on the occasion of President Obama’s visit to Yangon), I thought that post-war architecture could use a little more airtime, e.g. these two beautiful representatives.

IMG_9035_edit

Technical High School, Yangon (1956)

Continue reading

FIESP, Sao Paulo

I went on a short trip to Sao Paulo some while ago, and this building on Paulista Avenue caught my attention. It is the headquarters of FIESP – the Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo or Federation of Industries of the State of Sao Paulo.

fiesp01

Continue reading

Chennai book store

Much time has passed without any update. I hope the blog will resume normal operations now that the move to Washington, D.C. is fully completed. In lieu of a proper travelogue from Chennai (where I spent time in August this year), I post this photo of a bookshop taken in the beautiful T Nagar neighborhood.

chennai01

Wall reflections

The 9th of November has passed by quickly, and with it the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. As a young East Berliner at the time, the event was of great importance to me, although the true extent would only reveal itself many years later.

fernsehturm2

TV Tower on a foggy day

Continue reading